Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds had engaged in an ugly exchange of words during India's tour to Australia in 2008.
Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh reminisced about the rivalry between India and Australia during his playing days. He admitted that the T20 leagues brought the rivals close as they started sharing the dressing room and spending time together.
Harbhajan, who had indulged in a lot of verbal spats with the Aussies in past, played with Andrew Symonds and Ricky Ponting for the Mumbai Indians (MI) franchise in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The 41-year-old said that he wouldn't mind making enemies while trying to win matches for his country. "If trying to win matches for my country makes me a forever foe in the eyes of opponents then I am ready to become that, 200 times!", he told News18.com in an exclusive chat.
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Harbhajan recalled the time before IPL when Indian and Australian players didn't even speak to each other. The Indian team preferred to ignore the Aussies in the hotel lobby.
“Yes, IPL has changed the dynamic among the players in many ways because we spend close to 45-50 days together which is a lot. You do become friends and forget a lot of bitterness from the past. Nowadays, the rivals are enemies only on the ground; but during our playing days, we didn’t even speak to the Australians even in the hotel lobby. Such was the kind of heated clashes we had on the field," he said.
Ponting had trouble playing Harbhajan and he even admitted it openly, which the off-spinner feels good about. “Ponting, Hayden are big players and when they say something about your game, it does feel nice.
"They won’t praise you for doing nothing. I must have done something special as a player. The Aussies used to be the boss team of our generation and it was always great to challenge and test yourself against the best," he said.
Harbhajan had once claimed that Ponting was failing to focus on the ball and he was getting out by "just watching his face" during the 2001 Test series between India and Australia.
(With News18.com Inputs)